WOMEN IN CIVIL

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY LUNCH

The first live lunch event of the year took place at The Sanctuary within the lush surroundings of the Adelaide Zoo on Friday, 4 March. With guests finally able to network in person with industry friends and associates to celebrate International Women’s Day, the excitement was palpable. A huge Thank You to Hon. David Pisoni MP, for gracing the event, and to special guest speaker, Jessica Adamson, for delivering an exceptional commentary on her work, and also about the inspiring women who are breaking the bias. A huge Thank You also to CCF SA event partners Zancott, McMahon Services, and Intract Australia, for making this event a rousing success! And everyone else who chipped in to make it happen.

THE INSIDE SCOOP

Jess Adamson – award winning journalist, speaker, event host/facilitator, former 7 News presenter, South Australia. Who doesn’t know her?

What a treat it was to listen to Adamson at the Women’s Day Lunch. Dressed in a sleek cobalt blue outfit, the media wizard took to the microphone and transported her audience with her on a virtual trip of adventures and extraordinary stories. Effortlessly. Adamson studied journalism at the University of SA as she had been interested in the media from a young age. Azaria Chamberlain’s disappearance in 1980 captivated her. Starting her career at the Stock Journal, she worked there for five years before moving on to 7 News after ‘stalking’ Chris Willis (News Director of 7 News) on the phone for a year. She called him on the day Princess Diana died. That fortuitous call landed her a job to support the team needing additional manpower to cover the news. For the next 24 years of her wild adventures, Adamson covered some of the world’s biggest news stories that roller-coastered her through incredible highs and devastating lows – she wanted to share some of those moments at the event.

First, she wanted to acknowledge the women who have made us proud. “I’m also going to talk about the women who continue to inspire me and what I’ve learned about calling out the bias, as we celebrate International Women’s Day.” She expressed how privileged it was to be sharing the room with women who are breaking the bias every single day. Women who have actually chosen careers in the civil industry! “Television news showed me the best and the worst of the human spirit,” said Adamson whose journalism experiences are now forever tattoed in her mind. “I was lucky enough to be part of the 7 Team at the Beijing and Sydney Olympics, and was two rows back as Cathy Freeman won that gold medal in 2000… “I flew to the Antarctica for the day, skydived, hot air ballooned, travelled by submarine, Australian and American Airforce plane, helicopter and police boat. And landed on America’s biggest aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean. Sobbed as the Beaconsfield miners emerged from their underground hell – alive!” But the assignment that changed her life forever was the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami. Within hours of the news, her crew was in Bandar Aceh in Indonesia, witnessing a human tragedy unfolding on an unimaginable scale – the Sumatran coast was reduced to ground zero, there was no power, and animals were loitering the runway. Thousands upon thousands of bodies were strewn everywhere. The crew camped at the Governor’s residence for two and a half weeks as he was in jail for corruption. They survived on army rations and had no shower facilities.

It was an intense time with so much information to process. At a local hospital, a little boy, Zulfhami, became the human face of the tragedy for the crew. He gave them hope and the strength to leave eventually.

He was playing on the beach when the disaster struck. His father shouted for him to run up to the mountain while the rest of the family made a futile attempt to escape. They perished. When he found out later that his grandmother could be alive, the crew convinced the Americans to help them find her and take her to be reunited with her grandson. Adamson still keeps in touch with them. A teenager now, Zulfhami helps his grandmother sell cakes in the market. She hopes to see them again. She also added she had never been so proud to be an Australian than when Australian aid started arriving in Indonesia. Other equally memorable assignments included the Beaconsfield mine rescue where two of three trapped miners survived but the veteran 9 News reporter Richard Carlton dropped dead; and the Peter Falconio murder case where his fiancée Joanne Lees was abducted (but managed to escape). Once, Adamson even flew from Darwin on a chopper to El Questro in Mexico to cover Kylie’s wedding… only to find out upon arrival that it was the wedding of Kylie, the local hairdresser from Broome, not the nuptials of our famous singing budgie! A woman Adamson paid tribute to was Jane Doyle who was a constant throughout her career at 7. Doyle shared that it wasn’t always fair, and generally, the men there got the better deal. But, while it was uncomfortable, it was important to call out the bias. Now, she tries to teach her young daughter to be confidant as she feels it’s our responsibility to challenge the bias for the young women of the future. She said while we’ve come a long way in gender disparity, women are still paid less than our male counterparts. She praised the Crows AFLW team led by Chelsea Randall and Erin Phillips as a brilliant example of a group of women constantly challenging the bias. They are whom the boys look to for lessons on how to succeed.

“They celebrate diversity, inclusion and equality every single day – yet they face one of the biggest salary bias in the country – they still have to hold down full-time jobs and train in their spare time…” lamented Adamson when referring to the AFLW players. When Adamson was retrenched in mid-2020, she was at a loss with what she would do next, thinking she knew nothing better than writing a story, reading an autocue, or drinking brandy with Bruce Abernethy at the end of every Sunday. But she could not have been more wrong. She started hosting functions and delivered media training. That has since grown into the thriving business she absolutely loves, with a schedule she can work around her children.

Adamson particularly loves meeting extraordinary people and hearing their stories. One of them is about Evonne Penrose who was introduced at a previous CCF SA event as part of the pre-release program run by the Adelaide Women’s prison in 2019. She is now a Trainee Safety Advisor. She credits Evonne as a shining light in the industry. In conclusion, she lauded WIC for its phenomenal growth from a group of 10 people 12 years ago to the packed room at The Sanctuary. “I can’t wait to come back in another 12 years and see how far you’ve come.” Thank You Jessica Adamson. We too can’t wait. We have your word in print now.